Returnal Explaining the entire story

Return all has one of the deepest yet

most confusing stories of any game to

date

i stated in my review for the game that

the story wasn't exactly a strong point

but aftera few more hours of playing

finding new tidbits of lore and even

doing some research outside of the

game

i pieced together the entire story of

eternal along with what everything means

needless to say once i understood what

was happening it really made me

appreciate the game more and i'm hoping

that once you hear what i have to say

you will also have a better

understanding and appreciation for it as

well

and without any further delay let's get

into it okay

so right off the bat im just going to

tell you the entire game of eternal

takes place in celine's head and

everything that she experiences is a

comparison to how she is dealing with

grief after going through a traumaticexperience

the first ending you get in return after

you defeated the final boss ophion

is pretty cryptic celine wanders lower

into the depths of an abyss

and she sees a car not being able to

open it or see inside

she walks past it and discovers this

giant rick and morty face monster

that she's seen before moments after

she's died she asked it if it's the

being who brought her here

then the screen goes to black and we're

met witha new scene that shows what

appears to be celine driving with her

child

helios down a dark road late at night

for those of you who may not be paying

attention

during the scene where you play as the

child if you actually go back up to its

room the door will slam in your face and

you'll see the name helios posted on the

child's bedroom door

therefore confirming that the child'sname is in fact helios

celine changes the radio station and

this momentary distraction turns into

chaos when she looks up and sees an

astronaut in the middle of the road

she veers to avoid him and runs the

vehicle off the side of the bridge

while underwater celine catches a

glimpse of that creepy rick and morty

monster from earlier

and quickly turns around and reaches for

her child in an attempt to get them out

however for whatever reason whether she

was pulled or swam away to save herself

she is unsuccessful in saving her child

and shortly after the credits roll

now after this celine returns to atropos

like she's been doing and if the player

decides to go to the house you will

discover that the basement that has been

blocked off previously can now be

entered

celine goes down there and discovers a

wheelchair which i will explain a little

bit further alongmutter some dialogue and like before she

wakes up outside of the house

only this time she comes to the

conclusion that she wants to burn the

memory of the place down

the player is then tasked with

collecting six sun-faced stone fragments

one in each biome and upon completion

of

this task

she places all the pieces together to

create a car key

celine is then forced to go back into

the underwater abyss to fight ophion

again

and upon her success she makes her way

back to that car that was there

previously

only this time she's able to open the

door at this point the ending changes

and celine is met by this creepy

woman-like creature in a wheelchair

much like the one we saw in the house

earlier the creature speaks and its name

turns out to be thea

which for those who took the time towas the one in the astronaut costume

who

caused the car crash that inadvertently

caused the death of her child

the final clip goes back into the

perspective of the celine who was

driving

and we see her make her way up to the

surface of the water before the screen

turns to black

and we hear her gas for air and say the

name helios

before the game officially ends

so that'sa lot of information to

process without any real finite answers

So let's get into what everything means

like i said earlier

this game relies heavily on symbolism

and reading between the lines

the first thing i need to mention is

that celine's character is actually

greek american

which is made clear in the game and

Some

of the lore and literally everything in

return

has some form of greek name or

meaning

looking into some greek mythology

i found some interesting comparisons

that shed a whole new light on the game

So here we go to start in greek

mythology

celine was the goddess of the moonlikewise and in the mythology

her brother was helios the god of the

Sun

celine's mother in mythology was thea

just like she was in the game

and her father was actually hyperion who

for those that don't remember

was the boss celine fought who was

playing the organ like my boy davey

jones from pirates of the caribbean

then we have the five bosses of the game

who all have names for mythology as

well

there is the first boss freyk i believe

that's how you pronounce it

who is the spirit of horror then we have

ixion who was basically just a really

bad dude that tried to sleep with zeus's

wife which didn't work out all that well

for him

he's actually considered by many to be

the father of the half horse

half human hybrids that we know as

centaurs

then we have nemesis who is the

goddess

of retribution and revenge

i already mentioned hyperion and lastly

there is ophion whos the final boss

the titan god of the earth and whose

name translates to serpent

which is pretty much a direct

representation of the sea monster.